In its legal formulation, citizenship is a fundamental expression of membership in a nation! Automatic right to citizenship by descent/ancestry is far valuable for the Croatian national goal of having as many Croats return than what citizenship by naturalisation is. No question about that!

If I hear once more a Croatian government representative, or the President of the country for that matter, chivalrously (as they do) invite Croats living in the diaspora to return to Croatia, I fear I won’t be able to contain my outrage much longer! Why, you may ask – indeed. Well, all that the Croatian diaspora has been hearing from the political elites in power since about 1995 (when the Homeland War ended in military operations sense) is how Croats are welcome to return, how they should return to their homeland, how this, how that – all along those lines – and yet Croatia’s powers that be have done absolutely nothing to ensure that the process of receiving citizenship truly matches their invitations for return. That is, that citizenship is awarded to people of Croatian national descent living abroad who want to return or migrate to live in Croatia with minimal delay, if any!

One gets this bitter and irritating taste of something gone alarmingly wrong within this evidently national goal (and constant invitations for return have given a sense of national goal – i.e. succeeding in getting as many Croats as possible answer to the call [invite] for return) and pathetically incongruous means to achieve it, so far. Certainly, amending the existing Citizenship Act would represent one of the key means/strategies to achieve the goal of return. But, the highest of honours bestowed upon citizenship, an automatic entitlement to Croatian citizenship by descent (if one was/is born in the diaspora) is still locked to the condition that at least (only) one parent is a Croatian citizenship at time of birth of the child outside Croatia! This, of course, cuts out from that honour roll millions of people of Croatian descent living abroad. And those powers that be in Croatia are aware of this – some, especially those who show no desire for Croatia to be and grow strong, most likely prefer things to stay that way.

During the past week the Croatian Parliament agenda included discussions, presentations and suggestions from various parties about amendments to the Citizenship Act and those, bar one or two, gave no sense at all that what was afoot is a critical chance to ensure that the national goal of attracting as many as possible Croats from the diaspora to return to Croatia is actually addressed via amendments to the Act, including criteria for automatic right to citizenship. Representatives from the major party in government (Croatian Democratic Union/HDZ), such as Milian Brkic, Davor Ivo Stier, Ivan Suker and others kept waffling on about how their government is now bringing in the amendments that would make it much easier for Croats to become citizens of Croatia!

Front row: Zeljko Reiner (L), Milijan Brkic (R)Photo: Hina

“This is a small step for Croatia, but a big one for Croatian emigration,” Milijan Brkic , HDZ Vice-President and Deputy Speaker Croatian Parliament, emphasised, accentuating the enormous potential and significance of the Croatian emigration.

“With this we are sending out the message to the émigrés that our doors are open to them and that we are extending our hand to them for eventual return, and the first step is reception into the Croatian citizenship, and that we are extending our hand to them for investment into Croatia,” he said.

Well, well, well (!) – they are not pulling any wool over my eyes with this!

Firstly, Croatian diaspora gets deeply offended by such attitudes from Croatia that imply Croatia is not their homeland too. It is and it has always been so – the diaspora is part of Croatian nation! What does it feel like when people living in Croatia say “we extend our hand, open our door…to Croats from diaspora” ?! People say that such attitudes are pathetic, unproductive and have no place for a nation desirous of living with its diaspora.

Secondly, with their amendments they’re still keeping millions of people of Croatian national descent living in the diaspora who wish to return to Croatia, become citizens, in the less-important category of receiving citizenship through naturalisation! And that is no jackpot for Croats in the diaspora despite it being sold as such by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)!

Citizenship by descent means an automatic right to citizenship, whether one exercises that right or not.

Citizenship by naturalisation means that you pass the relevant requirements to become a citizen of a country that you weren’t previously a citizen of. This is the part about which the Croatian Democratic Union boasts – they say they will make this process easier, quicker for people who prove Croatian descent or belonging to the Croatian people.

Naturalisation is not an automatic right to citizenship and the Croatian diaspora needs to fight hard to achieve a widening of criteria for automatic citizenship right – at least those who want to return or emigrate (if they were born abroad) into Croatia.

“ … Perhaps one of the most important laws in modern history of Croatia is before us … for 28 years we gave been watching a Greek Tragedy … It’s a tragedy that the Croatian diaspora has become, I would say, Shudra in its own country, in the meaning of social castes in far India, they are there somewhere at the bottom … after all that they have given … this is a strategic question for the Republic of Croatia…we are constantly talking about the demographic plague … are we going to talk about the potential of the Croatian diaspora for the next three decades or are we going to finish this job … Independents for Croatia club will intercede to make things simpler…that law is still unclear…there are still smoke screens in it …in Article 6 for instance there are some 45 days for administrative purposes, which can block the process …well wait, the administration must complete its job as fast as possible … clarity and shortening of process …” said on 31 January 2019 in his presentation Zeljko Glasnovic, Independent Member of Parliament for the Croatian Diaspora. Video Link to his speech (in Croatian language) in Parliament on the Citizenship Act is presented below and well worth paying close attention to.

The important thing in Glasnovic’s presentation is that it contains inclinations towards possibilities of a special status in right to citizenship to be provided by the Act for people of Croatian national descent, including those whose ancestors have been living outside Croatia for many decades, whose families may have been deported or had fled e.g. post WWII, and are returning to live in Croatia.

Certainly, shining a special spotlight at the descendants of Croatian people returning to Croatia or emigrating into it is critical to the strategies of achieving the national goal of Croats returning to Croatia. No naturalisation process, no matter how short it is made, can ever replace in value for Croatia the automatic right to citizenship by descent. Descent meaning a descendant of Croatian people not Croatian citizens – the difference is paramount and enormous. I hope those in HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) will get to understand this difference and stop boasting about its new proposals to make naturalisation easier for Croats from diaspora and get on the wagon that is about automatic right to citizenship for descendants of Croatian people. Ina Vukic

So, if I read this correctly, the fact that my paternal great grandparents emigrated from what is now modern-day Croatia (1890s from Karlovac/Restovo areas) would perhaps allow me to apply for Croatian citizenship? I would welcome that opportunity

Yes indeed, Jerry, as things stand now with amendments to the Act that are still in process of parliamentary discussions etc before voting, the citizenship through naturalisation process (prirođenje) provides for proff of ancestry, belonging to Croatian people/nation. And that process it is said is going to be quicker. Also, doing away with Croatian language knowledge test. My preference and preference of many would be to provide for automatic right to citizenship by proof of belonging to Croatian people etc, which is better than needing to go through naturalisation. We wait and see what happens with that in the coming months. Thank you for your comment.

Thank you for replying to my query. Your preference for automatic right to citizenship via descent is understandable. I will be interested to see how the parliamentary discussions go. What do you think the timeline is for any recommended new amendments to the Act to become official law?

Time is now, still time Jerry, as there has only been the first reading as far as I’m aware a couple of weeks ago. My hunch is that we are looking at probably three or four months to the vote on amendments, I will be checking the parliament’s agenda for future sessions etc to make sure…cheers

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Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Here I will bring to you a variety of topics covering the documented truth about that terrible war that Croatia had to endure during the period between 1991 and 1995 and about Croatian political history that shaped a wonderful nation of people.

Croatian people wanted independence for centuries, just as they had it until the twelfth century but fate was not on their side – others wanted their beautiful land. In late 1980′s the will to break free from Yugoslavia which suffocated freedom and self determination through harsh communist party rule finally bore the desired fruit.

In June 1991 Croatia declared its independence; soon after the aggressive war against Croatia broke out. The struggle of the Croatian people for self-determination was a just one. But I fear genuine justice has not been served as there have been, and there still exist, international covert and overt moves to equate victims with aggressors continue in attempts to change history. Truth often becomes obscured and lost and that is why I have chosen to write this blog, to concentrate on actual events and issues about Croatia – wishing it a bright and freedom-loving future.

It certainly was not easy to come out of the war that was fought on two fronts:

1. On the military front the world’s public has seen the indiscriminate bombardment of Croatian cities, towns and villages from land, sea and air; the destruction of civilian targets including homes, schools, hospitals, churches, factories and cultural monuments; the blockading and destruction of roads, bridges and ports; the blockading of power, water, food and medical supplies. What hasn’t been shown on our television sets is the forced clearing and evacuation of towns and villages, followed by looting, torture, rape and murder carried out by the Serbian forces, who were initially backed by the federal Yugoslav army that was largely constituted by Serb nationals; the transportation of multiple hundreds of innocent Croatian civilians from Croatia into concentration camps Serbia (Begejci, Stajicevo, Sremska Mitrovica... from October 1991, and later (1992) transferred into Serb-held camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Omarska, Keratern, Manjaca, Trnopolje).

2. The second front was the war of political propaganda centred on: misinformation about the rights of minorities in Croatia; portrayal of the Croatian people as Ustasha or Fascists; the representation of the Croatian defence forces as illegal paramilitary units; the representation of the Croatian and Slovenian republics as unreasonable secessionists who are unwilling to negotiate; a regurgitation of distorted facts about World War II.

Indeed Croatia had an absolute right to defend itself and this is often forgotten if not often denied it.

Ina Vukic

Ina has been a tireless volunteer on humanitarian aid and fundraising for victims of war in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially war orphans. From1991 to beginning of 1994 she contributed in lobbying for international recognition of Croatian independence and Croatia’s rights in defending its territory and people from military aggression by Serbian forces. For this dedicated voluntary work Ina was awarded two Medals of Honour by the first president of the Republic of Croatia in 1995 (Commemorative Medal of the Homeland War and Order of the Croatian Trefoil).Ina has also written hundreds articles for newspapers in Australia and Croatia on the plight of Croatian people for freedom and self-determination, developing democracy in former communist countries. She holds two graduate and one post-graduate university degrees, specialising in behaviour, clinical and political psychology and management.

Blessed Aloysius Stepinac quote:

“When they take everything from you, you’ll be left with two hands; put them together in prayer and then you’ll be the strongest.” Blessed Aloysius Stepinac (1898 – 1960)

First President of Croatia Dr Franjo Tudjman quote:

“They could not, nor will they ever be able to kill our passion and our need to live in human dignity, in peace with ourselves and with the free nations of Europe. We have carved out that right at our first democratic elections. For this right and for our sacred land we are even ready to die” – Dr Franjo Tudjman (1922-1999) ( Addressing the Croatian nation at the moment of the start of Serbian aggression against Croatia, 16 October 1991)

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The Gospel of John, Ch.8,V.32

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